This week is National Environmental Education Week. By teaching our kids more about the environment we will hopefully reduce Nature Deficit Disorder (this is NOT a medical condition, but is related to modern lifestyles).

What is Nature Deficit Disorder?

A lack of routine contact with nature may result in stunted academic and developmental growth. This unwanted side-effect of the electronic age is called Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD). The term was coined by author Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods in order to explain how our societal disconnect with nature is affecting today’s children. Louv says we have entered a new era of suburban sprawl that restricts outdoor play, in conjunction with a plugged-in culture that draws kids indoors. But, as Louv presents in his book, the agrarian, nature-oriented existence hard-wired into human brains isn’t quite ready for the overstimulating environment we’ve carved out for ourselves. Some children adapt. Those who don’t develop the symptoms of NDD, which include attention problems, obesity, anxiety, and depression.

Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical condition; it is a description of the human costs of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families, and communities. There are solutions, though, and they’re right in our own backyards.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 2006 to pediatric health care providers on ways to increase physical activity in children and adolescents.

The authors stated that lifestyle-related physical activity, as opposed to aerobics or calisthenics, is critical for sustained weight loss in children, and recommended free, unorganized outdoor play as a method of physical activity.

[Ed. note: The above is from a post entitled “Is NDD linked to obesity?” It may be linked, but there are a lot of other factors beyond physical activity (or lack thereof) and diet. But more on that in another post.)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson encourages educators and students to get involved in National Environmental Education Week, April 11-17th. A week-long effort involving thousands of teachers and more than a million students, EE Week connects educators around the country with environmental resources to promote students’ understanding of the environment. Join EPA Administrator Jackson and take part in EE Week 2010.

Went skating with my kids yesterday. This time went much better than the last time I had been skating since I was wearing skates that weren’t too large. (Actually made it around the rink several times without falling.)

The skating rink we went to has a pinball machine and a couple of old arcade games, which my kids naturally wanted to play. Being more aware of the possible effects of too much stimulation on the mind (and having at times been sucked into playing such games in my youth), I tend to be somewhat cautious about letting my kids spend too much time playing such things. Of course, pinball for example shows you that such games have been around a lot longer than the Web.

Games do vary a lot in terms of how intense they are, and there are positive aspects to them (puzzle-solving, developing quick reflexes and better hand-eye coordination), but many games are designed the way they are to be stimulating (and for some people overstimulating). I don’t know whether this has anything to do with an adrenaline rush, endorphins, or dopamine, but it’s clear that something is going on inside some people’s heads.

The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), founded by Dr. Colborn, offers some good background information on endocrine disruptors. It also contains information on the effects that prenatal exposure to endocrine disruptors can have.

The Hormone Foundation lists environmental endocrine disruptors among external factors that can affect the endocrine system, and notes that such chemicals they can affect people and animals in several ways:

Cortisol is a marker for stress, but appears to have many positive effects and is in fact necessary. It apparently helps the body respond appropriately to stress. What’s not clear is whether constant production from chronic stress might in turn cause some additional effects. And what happens when you combine the stress of daily life with the stress of exposure to chemicals?

And if you look through the scientific literature you’ll discover that many (if not most) scientists will admit there’s a lot going on with the brain and the endocrine system (and glands like the hypothalamus and pituitary gland that interact with both) that we don’t know much about. And given how complex the human body is, it’s not surprising that exposure to so many chemicals could cause problems, some obvious, others much more subtle.